Barasat, Jan. 9: Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today ridiculed the Opposition’s refrain of “change’’ wondering if their cry meant Bengal would go back to the days of zamindar raj and “anarchy”.

“These days we find the Opposition parties saying that Bengal needs change. What change are they talking about? We have distributed more than 11 lakh pattas to landless farmers by appropriating the holdings of zamindars. Is change being sought to give back the land to the zamindars and jotedars by snatching the plots from the patta holders? The minorities are also being misled by the Opposition parties. Do the seekers of change want the state to go back to the days of anarchy and disorder?’’ the chief minister said at a Left rally in Barasat.

Prior to last year’s general elections and also after that, posters and banners screaming the need for “parivartan” (change) were seen in the city and the districts.

The chief minister said: “During Congress rule in Bengal, teachers did not get salaries on time and many had to do without it. There was no panchayat system in our state. We were the ones who ushered in such a set-up. It seems that the Opposition parties want to change such things so that our state moves backwards.’’

He did not name Trinamul Congress or Mamata Banerjee but pointed to chashes in colleges between CPM and Trinamul students’ unions in recent months. “Just see what is happening in college union elections,” he said.

Bhattacharjee repeated his charge of a Trinamul-Maoist nexus. “I have information of a Trinamul-Maoist nexus. I have raised the issue several times in the House but they failed to answer my charges’’.